Homes of the future..?

I’m blogging over at the BETWEEN THE COVERS blog today. Click on the banner to find out more, just don't anyone tell Mark. ;-)

Quick hello and update

Thanks to all of you who’ve been calling by and leaving me comments even though I haven’t been posting here very much.

Work on UNVEILING THE SORCERESS is going well, (if a tad slowly due to the huge cast LOL) and I’m now into the last third of the book where everything is fast moving and action packed. I’m falling into bed at night exhausted after the writing, a good sign! Looking ahead, November and December I will be doing a bunch of shorts and a couple of partials. I intend to take a proper break for Christmas this year. Well... I intended that last year but.. you know what I mean. Come January I’ll be working on my next contemporary erotic novel. Very excited about it and will post an excerpt in the near future.

In the meantime, I got another Romance Junkies review for DOUBLE DARE, it’s not online as yet but had to share it – just loved what the reviewer had to say:

DOUBLE DARE is one of the most erotically charged novels I've read in a while. Yet the book is not overpowered with sex but a good balance of plot and emotions. I loved the fact that Abby is unapologetic about her sexual needs and appetites. She is unafraid and it only makes her encounters with Zac more intense. Zac is attracted to Abby but I enjoyed how he didn't treat her like a fling but rather as an equal. Ms. Walker does a good job of showing Zac's feelings of guilt and his growing need to make things right with Abby. The secondary characters create an interesting flow to the story. There is even another love story following a similar vein as Zac and Abby's relationship. DOUBLE DARE is one of those stories that will have readers grabbing their significant lover for relief but at the same time, rooting for a happily ever after.
4.5 blue ribbons. Reviewed by Ann for Romance Junkies.

Okay folks, better get back to it.

Barnes and Noble

Exciting news from my Heat editor, DOUBLE DARE debuted at 13th on the Barnes and Noble Romance Trade Best-seller List and moved to 10th this past week. I'm absolutely thrilled!

Hope you're all having a great weekend! We're having lunch out with friends tomorrow (a chance to celebrate) but otherwise I'll be working on the WiP.

Check it out

CLICK HERE

In other news, I had time out for a fun and frivolous meet with my pal Wendywoo today, much enjoyed, but it's back to deep writing mode tomorrow as I work on towards the end of the current WiP. Hope you are all doing well.

Quick newsflash

Readers in the north of England will be able to see me featured in the Yorkshire Evening Post sometime next week. I’ll confirm the date when I know and if I can scan the feature I’ll put it up on the site. The interview was done this morning, and it was a lot of fun. I’d met the journalist, Jayne Dawson, before, so it was good to meet up again. Jayne had interviewed the gorgeous Dita Von Teese the night before, and the photographer was just on his way to photograph the Archbishop of York next (LOL one extreme to the other) so it felt almost like rubbing shoulders with real famous people ;-)

As the interview came to a close Jayne recapped, and she said, “so you’re the first British author on Red Sage, Penguin's Heat line, and Juno paranormal, that's a quite an achievement,” and I thought: I guess it is. I’m always the last to realise these things, you see…I’m sort of stunned now, but this stuff does me good, gets me out of my writers bubble and gives me some perspective on the last few crazy years, making this dream real. Hopefully if the photographs turn out well I might be able to use one here, instead of the one you see which is about 8 years old!

Right, back to the WiP.

4.5 blue ribbons from ROMANCE JUNKIES!

DOUBLE DARE is an awesome tale and keeps the reader hooked from the first page to the last. Erotic doesn’t begin to describe this tale and the heat will send you running for a cold shower and make sure to keep plenty of ice handy. Abby is a strong willed woman who enjoys pleasure and doesn’t make any excuses for her lifestyle. Zac is the sexy playboy who is used to women falling at his feet, but you know that once he meets Abby they are both going to fall hard and fast. Saskia Walker has done an excellent job of creating characters that pop out of the pages and a plot that readers are sure to enjoy. I can’t wait to see what she will come up with for her next book. 4.5 blue ribbons. By Romance Junkies Reviewer: Angel. READ MORE

Woohoo! :)

Blog hiatus

I'm working towards a big deadline here so I’m cutting back on net time. I’ll post any exciting news I might happen to get, other than that things will be a bit quiet here. Thanks for visiting folks, I’ll be back at the end of the month!

Funny

Three guys are sitting at a bar.

#1: "...Yeah, I make $75,000 a year after taxes."
#2: "What do you do for a living?"
#1: "I'm a stockbroker. How much do you make?
#2: "I should clear $60,000 this year."
#1: "What do you do?"
#2: "I'm an architect."
The third guy has been sitting there quietly, staring into his beer,
when the others turn to him.
#2: "Hey, how much do you make per year?"
#3: "Gee... hmmm... I guess about $13,000."
#1: "Oh yeah? What kind of stories do you write?"

On empowered women

I’m blogging over at the BETWEEN THE COVERS blog today. Click on the banner to find out more.

Where my head is at

So I’ve had my week away from the desk and I’ve come back mentally refreshed, ready to crank through the rest of my work in progress over the next three weeks. I’m going to concentrate on that, no short stories or anything else until November. So where’s my head at? Ha!

Yes, there is a new novel simmmering away at the back of my brain begging to be written. It’s another fantasy, set in the same world as THE STRANGELING. While I was writing that story the bad guy got quite a grip on me. I’m chuckling. He’s charming in a deadly way -- slightly demented, hellish sexy. Sigh. LOL It was hard at the time not to try to redeem him, I must confess. Anyway, he kept looming up in my thoughts until it occurred to me that it would need a very strong, powerful woman to sort him out… the past love who has buried her feelings deep, but cannot deny them, perhaps? Soon as I realised that, this woman’s voice was talking to me from the back of my head too -- vivid, powerfully magical, deeply feminine -- telling me her story. It’s getting crowded in my head! Of course it’s going to be quite a trial for her even getting to him, since I left him in the hands of demons, hehehe, let alone the redemption, but who said love was ever easy..?

Back to last week. My little trip down memory lane turned out different than I had expected. I am well and truly settled in Yorkshire, where my dad’s side of the family are from, but I’ve lived a lot of places. The vibrant city of Brighton on the south coast was my home on and off for almost 9 years of my life. It was the 20-year anniversary of when I first went there, so I figured I should go back. I loved it there, but at the same time it's a very transient place, and that wasn’t what I needed long term.

It was a bit of a tour round old haunts, ticking off what was still there, what had gone, and laughing at what had been renamed cyber-style to suit current trends. One of my favourite pubs, The Quadrant, had been refurbished and reopened just 2 nights before, after being shut for over 4 years. Uncanny. The odd thing about the pilgrimage is I realised how much happier I am with where my life is at now than I was 20 years ago, or even at the times in between. This wasn’t what I was expecting from the trip! I was expecting to be nostalgic, but it didn’t happen. Of course I’d love to be younger, and not to have all the health problems I’ve developed between now and then. But that aside, I am very much happier with the woman I am now, and where I am with my life and goals. Worth the trip for that alone, I have to admit.

We met up with my dear friend, Rhona, and had a wonderful reunion lunch. We hadn’t seen each other in two years so that was a happy occasion. We also spent a few days in Cambridge, where the traditional sight of cyclists wending through the city was marred by the high number of them falling arse-over-tit on wet cobblestones. I kid you not.That and the somewhat ludicrous price of coffee (and the rest,) made it somewhat surreal, almost like being in another country/TV outakes show. Did get some good book shopping done, and had another trip down memory lane at a superb Stranglers concert. Remember them... Golden brown, through my mind she runs, Strange Little Girl, where are you going? Sigh… Now, funnily enough, it was there that I did get nostalgic. I think perhaps I attach more significance to music, because music comes with me. I loved the Stranglers but haven't been that keen on seeing them live since Hugh Cornwell left. It was part of my belated birthday treat from Mark and the band (what’s left of them,) gave an excellent performance with lots of the old favourites. Much enjoyed gig! I’ve been playing them ever since I got back.

It was good to spend time with my lovely man without phones, PCs, work etc etc intruding. (it's been a while so I figured I'd embarass him again by linking to his photo ;-) Came back to a stuffed mailbox, wondered if it was even worth going away for a while there. LOL. Still playing catch up on the blogs to see what everyone is up to.

The Idea Boutique

Today I'm blogging over at THE IDEA BOUTIQUE. This is a fascinating project run by Berkley Sensation author, Heather Waters. The blog and site feature authors chatting about the inspiration for their recently published novels, and there's a wealth of fun reading material there in the archives.

Today is my day to post! If you're interested in where the idea for DOUBLE DARE came from just click on the banner to visit. Feel free to ask questions about what I've said in the comments section.

Double Dare news

It looks as if DOUBLE DARE has well and truly hit the streets! It's popping up in all sorts of places. While we were away, author pal Sylvia Day wrote me to let me know that it was featured prominently in the Barnes and Noble romance newsletter. Wow. It was just wonderful to see DOUBLE DARE there. I also loved the saucy review they gave the book! Click HERE to take a look, and click on the book cover itself to read their review.

Sasha White's Secret Thoughts newsletter ran a feature on the book (and moi,) to celebrate the publication. It includes an exclusive excerpt from one of my favourite scenes. If you haven’t already seen the October issue, click the banner if you'd like to check it out.

Contest winner!

Hi honeys, we're home! Thanks to you all for your fun messages on the contest comments, I loved reading them all when I got back home. More news on my trip soon (still catching up on mail that has piled up while we’ve been away, really, is it worth it LOL) but we had a great break. Caught up with friends and spent time in Cambridge and Brighton. It was a real trip down memory lane for me. More on that soon. Meanwhile, Mark picked lucky number 3 out of 18 so congratulations to Nikki who wins the copy of RED HOT EROTICA. Nikki, mail me your postal address to saskiawalker @ gmail.com and I’ll get the book off to you.